FC FIRST FIVES

SPRINGS AND DAMPERS/COILOVERS, FROM £50

You may think that we – as thoroughly seasoned wheel whores – would put a new set of hoops right at the top of a list, but no. You see, a suspension upgrade will always be our numero uno of chassis mods, because even a car on standard wheels can look pretty damn cool when it’s slammed on its derrière. The general rule of course, is that a drop in altitude is ALWAYS directly proportional to a hike in attitude. And besides all that, cars running larger diameter aftermarket rims tend to look a bit like roller skates without a spot of lowering anyway, don’t you think? So, it makes sense to sort your ride height before anything else.

Still, lowering your car is about so much more than style, taking down the ride height makes the overall centre of gravity lower for a positive effect on handling… just as long as you don’t go too low. A proper performance suspension upgrade, and by that we mean one that includes uprated springs and matched dampers, or all-in-one coilovers, will be also be stiffer and offer more control to further enhance handling by reducing body roll and weight transfer